Means for displaying illuminated words or characters.



J. R. FLANNERY & E. I. DODDS.

MEANS FOR DISPLAYING ILLUMINAT ED WORDS 0R CHARACTERS.

APPLiCATION HLED OCT. 15. 191?.

1,Q8,Q98. Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

ooooo oooq o0 ED STATES orrrca;

JOHN ROGERS FLANNERY AND ETHAN I. DODDS, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG-NORS T FLANN'ERY BOLT COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

MEANS FOR DISPLAYING ILLUMINATED WORDS OR CHARACTERS.

Application filed October 15, 1917. Serial No. 196,772.

To all whom it'may concern:

Be it known that we, J OHN R. FLANNERY and ETHAN I. DODDS, citizens of the United States, and residents of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsyl- Vania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Displaying Illuminated Words or Characters; and we do hereby declare the followin to be a full, clear, and exact description 0 the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in means for displaying illuminated words or characters, and more particularly to devices which may be employed for signaling or as a sign,the object of the invention being to provide means whereby illuminated words or characters may be caused to appear in the dark and maintain their luminosity for an appreciable length of time without necessity for the employment of electrically magnetically controlled switch devices.

With this and other objects in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts as hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claim. 4

Inthe. accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatical view illustrating an embodiment of our invention, and Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a single lamp in circuit.

1 represents a board which supports a considerable number of lamps 2.

Each lamp 2 comprises globes 3-4 having a coating or film 5 between,said film being preferably applied to the outer surface of the inner globe 4:- A source of electric light, which mayconveniently consist of an incandescent electric lamp bulb 6 is suitably supported within the inner globe 4. The coating or film above referred to is made of light-absorbing material and may consist of zinc or calcium sulfid and a very small quantity of radioactive material, such as a saltof radium. With such a. lamp structure, the light-absorbing film will be energized or activated by the light rays from the incandescent bulb. For this purpose it will suflice to maintain the electric lamp bulb luminous for a brief period and the light thus supplied to the light-absorbing film will cause the latter to remain luminous for a, considerable period after the electric lamp shall have been extinguished.

For'the purpose of lighting certain of the lamps to display the desired words or characters, a switch or writing board 7 is provided. This board carries a number of exposed contact points 8 corresponding to the number of lamps on the sign or signal board 1, and each of said contacts is connected by means of a conductor 9 with one terminal of one of the incandescent lam s. The other terminals of all of the incandescent lamps are connected with a common conductor 10 which includes in its circuit a battery 11 and a metallic pencil 12 When the operator moves the pencil 12 over the exposed contact 8 of the writing board, as in the act of writing a word or forming a character, the lamps on the sign or signal board included in the circuits of the contacts 8 with which the pencil may engage, will be lighted and the lighted lamps will form the words or characters which the operator has written or formed on the writing board. It will be understood that the closing of the lamp circuits in this manner will be momentary, but the light produced 'by such momentary lighting of the incandescent lamps will sufiice to energize the light-absorbing material between the lobes 3- 4 so that the lamps as a whole wlll'remain luminous for a considerable period as previously explained, and no switching mechanism will be necessary. to cause the lamps to remain luminous after the pencil 12 shall have passed over the contacts 8 of the writing board 7.

Our improvements are useful for signaling purposes, both on shipboard and on land, and'they may also be employed with advantage for illuminated sign advertising.

Having fully described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is

In devices of the character described, the combination of a multiplicity of lamps, means for supporting the same, each of said lamps comprising a globe having light-absorbing material thereon and a source of light within said globe for activating said material,va writing board provided with a multiplicity of contacts, each connected with one ierminai ei we of said? activating sources of li ht and an electric circuit iiielliding all of the other termineis of said activating sources of fight an electric geisenter and a pencil, the latter being adee "so be moved ever the eonsae is 91" the Writing board fer closing circuits of certain afi aetivatiag sources 02 he,

Em iJGSiBinlOXlY whereof We have .signeii this specification in the presence of two sub- 10 scribing Witnesses.

JGHN FLANNERY. irIAN L DQEDS. 

